Inspired by: the Rothschilds, the German Jewish family that established an international banking business in Europe.

Introducing: Rebellious Greta Goldbaum, who grudgingly agrees to an arranged marriage with her distant cousin Albert, whom she's never met. Their union, meant to strengthen the ties between the Austrian and English branches of the family, is put to the test by World War I.

Want a taste? "If Vienna was the aged aunt in her crinoline chaperoning the empire, then Paris was the cousin slipping a glass of champagne into her hand."

Starring: 17-year-old immigrant Thomas McNulty, a survivor of Ireland's Great Famine, and John Cole, his friend and lover.

What happens: The couple's enlistment in the U.S. Army takes them from the Great Plains to the battlefields of the Civil War. Meanwhile, they try to build a life together in a society that doesn't understand or accept romantic relationships between men.

Book buzz: Originally published in the U.K., Days Without End won the 2016 Costa Book of the Year award.

What it is: a collection of four interlinked stories that examine the Chinese American experience from the 19th century to the present.

Contains: "Gold," about a mixed-race immigrant from the Pearl River Delta who becomes a railroad baron's valet; "Silver," starring real-life 1930s Hollywood actress Anna May Wong; "Jade," set against the backdrop of 1980s Detroit's struggling auto industry; and "Pearl," about a biracial writer's adoption of a child from China.

What it is: an engaging rags-to-riches story that takes readers from the tenements of the Lower East Side to the gilded environs of Manhattan's wealthiest (with stops along the way at Studio 54 and the White House).

What it is:a sweeping family saga spanning four generations and eight decades, which opens with Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910.

What happens: Pregnant 16-year-old Sunja, spurned by her married lover, reluctantly accepts a marriage proposal from the minister lodging at her family's boarding house. The newlyweds travel to Japan to begin their life together.

For fans of: Alan Brennert's Honolulu, about a Korean American family in Hawaii; Eugenia Kim's The Calligrapher's Daughter, whose protagonist, like Sunja, proves resourceful during troubled times.

What it's about: After a fateful encounter with two Mormon missionaries, 19-year-old Aldine McKenna leaves Scotland and accepts a position as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in drought-stricken Kansas.

Is it for you? An illicit relationship adds drama to a bittersweet and quietly atmospheric tale of a struggling farming community during the Great Depression.

About the author:The Practice House marks the adult debut of author Laura McNeal, best known for her YA fiction.

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